Acxiom Buys SmartDM

Acxiom Corp., Little Rock, AR, announced it acquired direct marketing solutions provider SmartDM last week for about $20 million and intended to enhance its product offerings to midsized companies.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

SmartDM was founded in 1995 as a direct marketing agency called DataMark that concentrated on nonprofit fundraising. In 1999, it changed its name to SmartDM and broadened its focus. It covers direct mail, e-mail, customer relationship management and data management.

SmartDM CEO Richard Maradik has stayed under Acxiom's ownership along with the company's 90 employees in its main office in Nashville, TN. Offices in Kansas City, Las Vegas and New York also remain open.

SmartDM's more than 100 clients include Wyndham Hotels Worldwide, Gaylord Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment, American Red Cross, Comcast-Spectacor, National Basketball Association, Bass Pro Shops and other sports-related enterprises as well as several consumer finance and mortgage companies, Acxiom said.

"More and more of Acxiom's midsized clients and prospects are asking for a complete solution that provides the technology platform, complete data management and fully integrated direct marketing services," Acxiom company leader Charles D. Morgan said in a statement.

Though Morgan alluded to the deal as being just one element of Acxiom's strategy for the mid-tier market, the company said it had no other specific plans to reveal at this time.

Kristen Bremner covers list news, insert media, privacy and fundraising for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters

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